Your views are requested on the
re-siting of the Millennium Bench and three applications for the last of the New
Homes Bonus.
In this issue:
- Bulb Sunday Service, 17th February
- New Homes Bonus Applications
- Millennium Bench
- Lost and Found Cat, and Other Short Stories
- St James’ Church Urgently Needs You!
- Bystander Archives
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1. Bulb Sunday Service, 17th
February
The Bulb Sunday Service will
be held in St James’ Church this Sunday, 17th February at 3.00pm. The service
will be conducted by Revd Claire Lording. Tea and cake will be available in
Birlingham Village Hall afterwards.
Meanwhile, visitors to the churchyard
bulbs can enjoy tea, coffee and homemade cakes in the Village Hall between
11.00am and 4.00pm each Saturday and Sunday until 24th
February.
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2. New Homes Bonus
Applications
Ian Yates
writes:
The New Homes Bonus (NHB) scheme was introduced by the government
in 2011 and was designed to ensure the economic benefits of housing growth are
returned to the communities in which the growth takes place. Birlingham has had
very little housing development and so the value of our NHB is relatively small.
However it has been used in the past to fund improvements at Birlingham Village
Hall, the Cricket Club and provide a new marquee for the Flower and Produce Show
and other village activities. The government has now decided to replace this
scheme with a new Community Legacy Grant Scheme and any unused NHB money will be
lost if proposals are not submitted by 18th March 2019.
The value of
Birlingham’s NHB is currently £1372. The money will only be released by Wychavon
District Council for proposals that meet their project criteria. There are three
projects that the Parish Council is thinking of proposing for NHB funding (see
below) but would like to receive any comments and feedback from
residents.
- Millennium Bench. This is the circular bench that surrounds the
plane tree on the village green opposite the lych-gate. It has been mentioned
at previous Parish Council meetings that the bench is now damaging the plane
tree by cutting into the trunk and roots and having had the tree surveyed by a
tree surgeon, the recommendation is that the bench be removed. As the bench is
popular with villagers and walkers it is hoped that it can be reassembled and
re-sited on the village green. However, due to the slope on the green, an area
will need to be levelled and finished with stone. Carpentry and ground work
costs are estimated to be £1000. It is hoped that £872 can be funded from NHB
with the balance coming from Parish Council funds.
- War Memorial. As mentioned in the Parish Council November minutes,
a booklet has been published in commemoration of WW1 titled Birlingham in the
Great War of 1914-1918 Lest We Forget. Part of the research revealed that
Frederick Quarrell a villager that died in the war is not on the Birlingham
memorial or on any other war memorial. The Parish Council fully supports the
inclusion of his name on the war memorial and is proposing to submit an
application for NHB funding as a contribution towards the stonemason’s cost of
£300.
- Birlingham in the Second World War. As mentioned above, as part of
the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War,
the Jubilee Committee produced a booklet detailing the 50 men who went to war.
The committee is now planning a similar booklet to mark the 75th anniversary,
in 2020, of the end of the Second World War, covering the 39 men and women
from Birlingham who saw active service. The booklet would provide a permanent
record of the service personnel and their families, and of life in Birlingham
during the war years. The production costs are estimated to be £432 and the
Jubilee Committee are applying for a grant of £200 towards these costs. The
remainder of the printing costs will be raised by the committee.
Residents are therefore invited to contact the Clerk at birlingham_clerk@yahoo.co.uk if
they have comments on any of these proposals. Due to the fact that the current
NHB scheme is due to end shortly, comments must be received no later than
Thursday 28th
February.
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3. Millennium Bench
Steven Byrne writes:
The removal and
repositioning of the Millennium Bench from around the Plane Tree on the village
green, opposite the parish church
The much loved Millennium Bench,
used by parishioners and visitors to the village and Church throughout the year,
is showing its age and creating an issue for the tree it encircles. The Bench
encompassing the mature plane tree on the village green needs to be removed and
relocated, following advice from a well-respected tree surgeon. As a result of
the growth of the tree root system since the bench was positioned there, the
bench is now having a detrimental effect on the roots. Further, the bench is in
need of repair, and we would like to undertake this at the same time.
The
Parish Council are proposing to prepare a level area on the village green to
place the refurbished Millennium Bench on. It is proposed the prepared surface
will have Cotswolds stone, with the Millennium Bench positioned in the
middle.
The Parish Council would appreciate members of the parish’s views
on the proposed relocation of the Bench on the village green, or indeed
suggestions as to an alternative location which are fully accessible to
residents.
Please send your comments to the Parish Clerk at birlingham_clerk@yahoo.co.uk.
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4. Lost and Found Cat, and Other Short
Stories
Last week a black cat went
missing in Birlingham and a notice was posted on the Birlingham online
Noticeboard. The cat was found by someone who then posted a picture on the
Eckington noticeboard. This notice was subsequently seen by a relative of the
owner and we are pleased to say that cat and owner have now been reunited. This
story shows the potential power of online village noticeboards.
Other
notices on the Birlingham Noticeboard have covered a search for garage space, a
sighting of a suspicious vehicle in the village, the Bulb Teas and the Burns
Night Supper. We hope that more people will register for the Birlingham
Noticeboard or check it online, so that more cats can find their way home,
garages can be filled and events can be made a greater success.
The
Noticeboard is accessed from a link on the main page or directly at www.birlingham.org/noticeboard.
Initial registration is quick and easy, and you can opt to have new notices
delivered direct to your email
inbox.
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5. St James’ Church Urgently Needs
You!
Revd Claire Lording
writes:
Everything we do at church is a team effort but we need people to
be part of the team. Some people have particular roles which ensure the smooth
day to day running of the church. Churchwardens have a particular leadership
role and without them it becomes difficult for us to legally operate as a parish
church. Both Ann Maxwell and Ali Hastings are stepping down as Churchwardens at
the Annual Meeting on 2nd April and we don’t seem to have any natural
successors. Can you help? It is expected that a churchwarden will come regularly
to church to share in its life and worship.
We also need some help with
our finance. After John Hill died Neil Eldred came forward to be our Treasurer
and to keep the books in good order. However, the day-to-day banking has been
ably handled by Ann Maxwell. As she is standing down as Churchwarden this will
no longer be possible. What we are looking for is a Treasurer’s Assistant who is
able to handle all the day-to-day aspects of the Treasurer’s role including
banking and dealing with correspondence.
There is also always room for
more people to join the PCC.
If you think you can help in any way, or
want to know more about what’s involved, please contact Ann, Ali or me. Thank
you, Claire (vicar.pershoreabbey@gmail.com,
01386
552071).
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6. Bystander Archives
The second edition of the Birlingham Bystander, from Winter
1982, is now available on the website. This 24-page edition (eight pages more
than Issue 1) includes articles on a village in Botswana; a description of
veteran and vintage cars by Vic Butler; more controversy in the Letters section
on moles and the Gentlemen’s Club; the history of Nafford Lock; thoughts on
planning matters by Richard Foulkes; a village photograph from the coronation of
King George V in 1910; and more. The issue also includes recipes, wildlife
notes, fashion and the first appearance of paid adverts. The editors managed to
pack a huge range of content into the magazine!
The first two editions of
the Bystander can be viewed at www.birlingham.org/village/bystander.
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